In a forthcoming Hulu docuseries, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that no one likes Sen. Bernie Sanders, and in a wide-ranging interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the former senator said that her assessment still stands and she would not commit to endorsing her former political rival should he win the 2020 Democratic primary.
“He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him,” Clinton said in Hillary, the four-part series, helmed by Academy-award nominated director Nanette Burstein, set to premier March 6 on Hulu. “Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.”
When THR reporter Lacey Rose asked Clinton if she would endorse and campaign for Sanders should he win the Democratic Party’s nomination—as Sanders did for her in 2016—she would not give a direct answer. Instead, she shifted the conversation to “Bernie Bros.”—the pejorative term given to young, white male Sanders’ supporters who perpetuate toxic and sexist attacks online, not to be confused with the vast majority of Sanders’ supporters, comprised mostly of working class women under 30.
“I’m not going to go there yet,” Clinton said. “We’re still in a very vigorous primary season. I will say, however, that it’s not only him, it’s the culture around him. It’s his leadership team. It’s his prominent supporters. It’s his online Bernie Bros and their relentless attacks on lots of his competitors, particularly the women.
As ESSENCE previously reported, a few of Sanders’ prominent supports include Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar (Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), three-fourths of the freshmen congresswomen collective known, along with Rep. Ayanna Pressley—who endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), as “The Squad.” Most recently, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) endorsed Sanders. Additionally, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, assistant professor of African-American Studies at Princeton University, and the author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation and Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership; Phil Agnew, co-founder of the Dream Defenders, a Black liberation organization; and Palestinian-American organizer Linda Sarsour have all announced their support.
Former Ohio state senator Nina Turner serves as the national co-chair of the Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign.
“I really hope people are paying attention to that because it should be worrisome that he has permitted this culture — not only permitted, [he] seems to really be very much supporting it,” Clinton continued. “And I don’t think we want to go down that road again where you campaign by insult and attack and maybe you try to get some distance from it, but you either don’t know what your campaign and supporters are doing or you’re just giving them a wink and you want them to go after Kamala [Harris] or after Elizabeth [Warren]. I think that that’s a pattern that people should take into account when they make their decisions.”
Sanders brushed off Clinton’s criticism, telling reporters, “On a good day, my wife likes me, so let’s clear the air on that one.”
“Secretary Clinton is entitled to her point of view,” Sanders continued. “My job today is to focus on the impeachment trial. My job today is to put together a team that can defeat the most dangerous president in the history of the United States of America.”
Asked why Clinton was “still talking about 2016,” he responded, “That is a good question, ask her.”
Sanders’ supporters have mobilized on social media, with #ILikeBernie currently trending on Twitter.